Jasia, of Creative Gene is once again hosting the Carnival of Genealogy, the 115th such carnival! WOW that is a lot of parties, err, carnivals. She has challenged us, and, I do mean really challenged us this month. The challenge is to write your family history in 300 words or less. Really, 300? I hear you all laughing, verbose Carol, less than 300 words?? I gulped, I laughed, I stewed and brewed, and then I did it! And, it was FUN! 300, ON the button! See:
My approach was to see if I could write an introduction to a compilation of the Lashbrook clan that someday I hope to make available to other Lashbrook researchers. I have been trying to finish this work for too many years. I thought, well, maybe if I have the introduction, I can jump start my procrastinating self. We shall see, but, I did manage to finish the challenge. And, it became that, a challenge, I had 325 words at one point, dropped back to around 280 words, and with many tweaks finally finished right at the magic number of 300.
Now, I will let out this little secret, I had to contact Jasia to ask her how to count the words. She said she uses word processors on and off line, and there is a magic little counter with most of them. Word Perfect in fact does have one. Word processors count each and every word, even "a", "is", "the". When I learned to count words way back in the dark ages in high school, we did not count those types of words, only words with 4 letters or more. Whew, I am not sure if the way words are counted by the word processor works for us or against us. Now, truthfully, isn't that all just a tad bit interesting??
Jasia also told me she will not become the word count police, so, I was not real worried about it and find it quite amusing that I hit 300 on the button. Oh, by the way, none of what I have written up to this point counts! But, from here on out, let the counting begin.
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Sometime between 1830 and 1832 Richard and Ann and their ten children boarded a ship, crossing the Atlantic for a new life in the Americas. According to family tradition they migrated to Canada. About a year later, the family moved over the border to Clinton County New York.
While living in New York, two, possibly four additional children were born. Two of these children lived to adulthood, two have not been located anywhere, we do have their reported names.
Records are hard to come by during the 1830's and early 1840's in New York, but there are indications that the four eldest Lashbrook children were married there.
By 1843 the entire Lashbrook clan started moving to McHenry County Illinois, part of their trip was via the Erie Canal, part by wagons. Before 1850 the move from New York was complete, no Lashbrooks lived there.
Six of the Lashbrook children married in McHenry County. Over the next 10 years most of the Lashbrook children and their families started moving away from McHenry County, heading west. Two sisters (one a widow) and five brothers lived for many years in several northeastern Iowa counties. Over the years migration continued, with Lashbrooks ending up in many western states.Richard and Ann died in McHenry County Illinois by 1883, they are buried in the Jerome Cemetery, near Harvard. A number of their descendants are also buried in McHenry.
The Lashbrook family history is fairly typical, filled with farmers, teachers, professionals, and a few “interesting” souls to color the story.
Come join us as we discover the story of the Lashbrook clan.
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* Photos, from the top:
1.) The Altar at St Peter's Church Thornbury Devon England, where Richard Lashbrook and Ann Newcomb were married.
2.) The Erie Canal, today. Photo courtesy of Pam Martin.
3.) Lashbrook headstones, Jerome Cemetery, McHenry County, Illinois. In the foreground: Richard and Ann Lashbrook. To the rear: John and Lydia Lashbrook, son and daughter-in-law.
** Thanks Jasia, it was fun, honestly!
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